Is this Christmas card too ‘sexual’ for Facebook?

An artist from Hawick was baffled when her painting of a robin redbreast was banned from the Facebank social media site for being too sexual.

Jackie Charley, 52, repeatedly failed to upload the images of the charming bird which feature on packs of seasonal greeting cards she was hoping to sell.

Facebook warned her the images featured the sale of ‘adult items or services’, adding: “It looks like we didn’t approve your item because we don’t allow the sale of adult items or services (eg sexual enhancement items or adult videos).”

Jackie is completely mystified at the decision and has repeatedly asked Facebook for an explanation, without success.

The ban is a blow as she works from home to allow her to care for husband, who has a serious medical condition, and relies financially on the sales of cards she sells on Facebook.

It is believed the ban may prove to be an error but a spokesman for Facebook would only say that the firm was now investigating the matter.

Jackie, who lives in Ashloaning, said: “I still haven’t got to the bottom of it I can only assume that there is some robot looking at these images rather than a person.

“It makes no sense because I’d uploaded some more funky images on the same day and I had no problem with them at all. It’s very frustrating because I don’t have another job and I am doing this to generate some income for my family.”

The irony is that Facebook has been condemned for allowing users to post pornography and other vile videos – but has bizarrely banned a traditional Christmas card of a robin redbreast and two other seasonal paintings of a stag and a squirrel.

Jackie, a mother-of-two, said: “Facebook has allowed some hideous violent pictures to get through and yet they block these images which are just so, well, benign.

“I am completely mystified, how could these cards be seen as inappropriate in any way? These are lovely pieces of art that I just wanted people to enjoy at Christmas. How they could be considered inappropriate or sexual is beyond me?”

The furore has led to quite a storm on social media, with suggestions that the ban resulted from the use of the word breast, a theory not supported by Jackie who called the bird ‘robin’ not ‘robin redbreast’ when uploading the images.

She added: “I tried to upload the images five times, but this rejection message kept coming up. I was sure it was a mistake, but it wasn’t.”